Alan Bennett: The Uncommon Reader
There seems to be a trend for slim pocket volumes coming with exorbitant prices. First there was André Brink‘s The Blue Door and now it’s Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader.…
André Brink: The Blue Door
On the back of André Brink’s The Blue Door there’s a quote from Nadine Gordimer referring to it as a novel but, at 122 pages, it has even less of…
Arto Paasilinna: The Howling Miller
When it comes to choosing a book there are all manner of things that can – and do – influence my choices. An interesting cover is one such way to…
Blaise Cendrars: Gold
According to the back of Blaise Cendrars’ Gold (1924), the author spent fifteen years creating this, a fictionalised account of John Augustus Sutter – his debut novel. Given how slim…
Edward Docx: Self Help
With the Man Booker 2007 being over, and Self Help (Pravda, to US readers) long since fallen from the competition I approached Edward Docx’s second novel with indifference. The cover,…
John Steinbeck: Cup Of Gold
It has been my intention, for some time now, to read (and in some cases, reread) the works of John Steinbeck. Amongst his canon there’s a varied mix of fiction,…
Nadine Gordimer: July’s People
My previous experience of Nadine Gordimer was with last year’s Booker longlisted Get A Life. That book, to me, was so full of stunted sentences, lacked narrative focus, and was…
Nicola Barker: Darkmans
“If history is a sick joke”, the inside cover of Nicola Barker’s Darkmans says, “then who exactly might be telling it, and why?” It goes on to ask if it’s…
Susan Hill: The Woman In Black
Some books seem to capture the imagination and transcend the boundaries of fiction. Susan Hill’s The Woman In Black would appear to be one such novel, given that it’s been…
Roddy Doyle: The Deportees and Other Stories
The Deportees and Other Stories, began life, as Roddy Doyle notes in the foreword, as a series of fragmented short stories written for Metro Eireann, Ireland’s multicultural newspaper. Restricted to…